The Rat, The Mole & The Speedy
by The Threat
Summary: Dekaranger .After the events as they took place in 'Keeping It Together', this story will continue where I left off, and thereby get closer to the end.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: "Dekaranger" is owned by Toei Company. The characters "Wells" and "Smith" are mine.

Note: the word "Speedy" in the title is a play on the Japanese pronunciations for "S.P.D."

* * *

A man drove to a house. The house in question appeared quite dark, but that didn't scare this man as he has been here before. He walked to the door, knocked it and waited for someone to open.

When the person living inside opened the door, he seemed to know this man: "Anders! It's starting to become a habit for you to come here."

The man in question sighed, to which the one in the house asked: "What's the matter?"

"Nothing." the man said, "It's just that my colleagues call me Wells, my girlfriend calls me Bill, and you call me Anders. How many more names do I need, Smith?"

That's when the one inside, Smith decided to let him in: "I suppose you could get another name for that mole you're searching."

"Funny, coz that's exactly why I'm here." the man, Wells replied.

This seemed to excite Smith: "Why didn't you just say so!"

"Doesn't matter." Wells told him, "I've gotta be somewhere, so I've gotta be quick."

"Sure, what do you need?" Smith asked.

"I want you to look for information on somebody." Wells explained.

"You got something on that mole, don't you?" Smith asked him.

"Maybe." Wells replied, "But all I got is my own eye-witness, which ain't enough."

That's when Smith decided to say: "You know, Gibson just arrived in town, he could do something..."

"He is?" Wells wondered, "He doesn't even know any Japanese."

"Yeah, that's why he asked me if I could help him out when needed." Smith replied.

Wells nodded: "No matter. I want you to hack into S.P.D.'s computers an..."

"Wait, you want me to do what?" Smith asked him, "You know I can't do that."

"Don't worry, I'll tell you what to do." Wells assured him.

"But... if you can do this yourself...?" Smith wondered.

"If I'd do it myself, they'll know." Wells answered, "And when they know it, the mole will. It doesn't know I'm on to it, and I'm planning to keep it that way until I got something that'll get it."

"Alright, whatever you say, Anders." Smith replied, "So who am I supposed to search for?"

Wells smiled, after which he gave Smith all the info he needed.

Meanwhile, in the Better Tomorrow Bar, Jasmine was waiting along with Sen and Umeko. The latter one kept talking, while the other just listened. It was then that Sen realized that Jasmine wasn't particularly with her head in the bar.

"Sen-chan, I just asked you something." Umeko then started, after which she was silent, but Jasmine didn't seem to notice.

Sen turned to Umeko, pressed his fingers against his lips, so to shush Umeko, who did as she was told.

"Emergency!" Sen shouted, at which Jasmine got up as soon as she could, about ready to raise her License.

When she realized Sen played a trick on her, she sighed and sat down again. That's when Umeko asked her: "What's the matter?"

"Nothing." Jasmine answered.

"Jasmine." Sen said, "We don't have to be mind-readers to know you're lying right now."

Jamsine sighed again: "I don't know."

"Does it have anything to do with Wells?" Umeko asked.

The name alone seemed to trigger something, but Jasmine remained calm: "It's just... what could be so important he'd miss our double-date?"

"Is that it?" Umeko asked, "If I were to feel that way every time Sen got late on a date..."

"Er... I'm not always late." Sen laughed.

This caused a short lovers' quarrel, which did bring some kind of smile on Jasmine's face. At that point she whispered: "I just hope he'll be alright, for all of us."

"All of us?" Sen overheard her say.

"What do you mean?" Umeko asked.

Jasmine looked at them, then decided: "I suppose I should give you two the heads-up before I tell him."


	2. Chapter 2

Once Jasmine had told her two friends what she wanted to tell them, Umeko was the first to speak: "You're what? When did that happen?"

"How did that happen?" Sen asked, being the more realist of the two.

Umeko smacked him on the back of his head: "Idiot! How can you not know?"

"I mean..." Sen tried to explain, a little in agony.

"I know what you mean." Jasmine interrupted him, "To be honest, with Bill, it's not that difficult."

"What do you mean, he hardly thinks?" Umeko remarked.

"Ban would love to hear that." Sen added, "With all those times he tried to discredit Wells."

"Not to mention Hoji." Umeko reminded him.

"Yes, him too." Sen corrected himself.

All three of them couldn't help themselves but to think back of those times. When they first met Wells, he didn't show his face to them, as he immediately transformed into Dekasilver. In that form, he defeated a monster, which brought a lot of pain to the Dekarangers. Once defeated, even Ban was in a cheerful mood, until Dekasilver was asked to show his face. That's when Ban changed his mood.

"A... a wes... a westerner?" Ban couldn't believe his eyes.

"That's correct." the westerner confirmed, "I'm really American."

Umeko, being her usual overexcited self, cheered: "Wow! A real westerner in our team! I never expected to see th..."

"He won't be in our team!" Hoji said flatly.

Ban's remarks were usually racist in nature, for reasons he never mentioned.

When asked why he didn't like Wells, he flat out replied: "He's a westerner!"

And that was how he decided to keep calling him ever since: "You know what, you westerner?"

"I wonder if it would help if I start telling him to call me by my name." Wells once sighed in reply to that.

There even was a time when Ban thought to have caught him red-handed.

"Surrender!" Ban shouted.

Wells appeared oblivious about what's brought him to burst in like this: "What gives you the right to..."

"Too late for smooth talk now!" Hoji, who had joined in at the time, warned him.

And Hoji's were more of the type you'd expect from a perfectionist.

"I still don't trust him." Hoji stated at one point.

Or even had a bad opinion about how Wells handled a hostage situation: "Well? He has to put down the gun to save us! Why isn't he?"

Back in the present day, Jasmine too remembered all that: "You're right, they would love to hear that."

"Hear what?" a voice sounded, of which only Jasmine needed not turn her head to know who it belonged to, but she did just to see him.

"Bill!" she lit up as she saw him, got out of her seat just to hold on to him. Wells, of course did not hesitate to hug her back.

"So what was so important that you nearly missed us?" Sen asked.

"Just a little breakthrough in a case I'm working on." Wells replied.

"Something about that mole?" Umeko asked.

As Jasmine and Wells slowly let go of each other, Wells replied: "If it is, it is classified."

"Oh come on!" Umeko was about to have a tantrum.

"Fine, if you don't want to tell us..." Sen replied, trying to calm down Umeko.

"So..." Wells started as he was sitting down, "Who would love to hear what?"

That question, for some reason, made all three of them lock up in silence. But Umeko knew just the thing to say: "Many... people... they would... love to hear I'm leaving Earth Branch."

"You are?" Wells, Jasmine and Sen replied in unison, at which Wells looked at the other two, suspicious.

"I mean..." Sen tried to correct himself, "There will be?"

"Well... yeah." Umeko tried to explain herself.


	3. Chapter 3

Umeko explained: "There aren't so many people who like my always cheerful mood, so they'd be glad if I'm gone, wouldn't they be?"

"That's not true." Sen disagreed, "I would miss it. We'd all miss it."

"Yeah." Jasmine agreed.

"Well... you're also one of the few who accepted me from the very beginning." Wells sighed, "Where're you going anyway?"

"Well..." Umeko started, "You remember how I easily bonded with Murphy?"

Sen and Jasmine said yes, while Wells replied: "I read about that."

"Somebody higher up recognized my talent, so now they want me to train other dogs." Umeko finally said.

"Curious." Sen thought out loud.

"Why?" Umeko asked him.

"That factory that makes these dogs are now making copies of Flora." Sen answered, "And given the work I've done with Flora, they think I should help train them too."

"And that's all at the same factory?" Umeko sounded more cheerful, "How nice, so we'll still be together then!"

"A little convenient if you ask me." Wells remarked.

"Oh come on!" Jasmine nearly complained, "Now's not the time to be a detective."

"Maybe Boss had something to do with this." Sen deduced.

"You'd think?" Umeko wondered.

Wells seemed to think about that, then agreed: "I guess you're right."

"You didn't think that this mole had anything to do with it, did you, Bill?" Jasmine questioned.

Wells didn't know any answer, but that's when Sen said: "Don't worry, now that you told us, more people are helping now."

This seemed to shake Wells up: "What do you mean?"

"Swan, for one, she's searching for patterns that may help us determine who it is." Sen answered.

"Oh..." Wells replied, "I... I need to use the bathroom for a minute."

He got up, but Jasmine stopped him: "Hurry back, okay?"

Wells looked at her. He didn't know why she nearly begged him for this, but judging from the look in her eyes he realized it must be important. He smiled then went away.

However, he didn't really need to use the bathroom. He hid his License and his cellular somewhere, after which he snuck out through the window. He ran to the nearest pay-phone he could find, dialled the number he needed to reach, then waited for someone to pick up.

"Who's this?" Smith asked over the phone.

"It's Anders." Wells answered.

Smith was surprised: "Anders?"

"You've gotta blow off what I told you to do." Wells told him.

Smith didn't understand: "Why, I was on my way to..."

"Someone's using the computers right now." Wells interrupted, "If that someone finds out I've allowed you access to S.P.D.'s computers..."

"So?" Smith still didn't understand, "If you tell them why you did it..."

"It wouldn't matter." Wells interrupted him again, "They'd think it's solid evidence that I'm the one who's been messing with S.P.D. and not even try to look for the real culprit. Believe me, I can name at least two of those who'd think so."

"And you've seen how such cops operate." Smith understood now, "Damn Anders, you've played a dangerous game."

"Yeah, whatever." Wells reacted, "Guess there's almost literally one thing left for me to do. What do you got so far?"

"So far?" Smith answered, "Well... say, Mel just bought today's newspaper and was surprised of what he read."

Wells needed to think this latter bit through. Then he decided: "Right. Thanks anyway."

"Don't mention it." Smith replied.

Wells hung up the phone and returned to the bar.

When he entered, he found his License. To be secure, he had put it on mute, so he didn't realize it's phone was blaring until he looked at the screen. He answered it.

"Yes?"

"Where've you been?" Doggy asked him, "I've been trying to reach you for three minutes!"

"Yeah, er..." Wells couldn't think of a good excuse, so he tried to change the subject, "Why did you try to reach me?"

"We may have found out who the mole is. You might want to come here to see yourself." Doggy told him, "Quickly!"

"Yes, sir." Wells replied.

He left the bathroom, only to see that Jasmine and the others have already left. One thing he felt sure about is that if Doggy's right, and he found the mole, then he wouldn't have to hide anything from anyone anymore, so to not comprimise the case. He got outside, got onto his bike and drove off to the Dekabase.


	4. Chapter 4

"Like that would make much of a difference." Ban complained, at the Dekabase, when Doggy had finished calling.

"Ban, this is not the time for bias!" Doggy told him.

"He is right, though." Hoji agreed, "Wells claims to be so much better than us, yet he's spend almost a year on finding this mole, but..."

"Nonsense." Tetsu interrupted him, "We've spend a whole year trying to catch Abrera ourselves. How's this any different?"

"How?" Hoji questioned, "You really need to ask? He seriously lacks any idea of authority..."

As an example, one could pick the time when they first met Wells, and how he spoke to Lisa at the time:"I wouldn't like it if a supervisor would call me unreliable because that same supervisor held me up."

"... he doesn't take orders too seriously us..." Hoji continued.

Another example would be the time that Wells, as Dekasilver, had to help protect a mecha, known as DaiJin, in which Hoji, as Dekablue, started: "What are you doing?" Our mission is to protect this find at all cost!"

"And that mission pretty much failed, didn't it!" Dekasilver replied, as he allowed his robot, the Gyro-Carrier, to crash DaiJin some more.

"... and then I haven't begun on the times he makes fun of us!" Hoji finished.

This is in reference to the times that Wells had his say on the Dekarangers' behaviour. Like the time Ban made a stupid remark. Everyone in the room, apart from Wells, seemed to faint at that remark. Wells was surprised to see this, so he asked: "Did you people eat at all this morning?"

Or that time when Wells was out of the room, and re-entered when everyone was down, saying: "Some kind of toxic gas here?"

Not to mention when everyone merely looks surprised, which was also a subject of Wells's jokes. At one time he remarked: "You are all scary when you do that."

At another time, he said: "Someone needs to check you guys about that twitch of yours."

This even came to a point where people would look surprised behind him, so he didn't see them, and still he'd say: "I'm not even looking at you people, and I know you are doing that face again!"

"Are you sure you're not just pissed because he keeps calling you by your last name?" Tetsu wondered.

"He's only a westerner." Ban answered, "I can't imagine he'd understand we know something called honorifics."

"Yes, well so far, neither one of you have given him any reason to honor you." Tetsu remarked.

This discussion is still going on, when Sen, Umeko and Jasmine entered the room.

"You've arrived." Doggy sounded relieved.

"Where's the westerner?" Ban wondered, "Wasn't he with you?"

"He had to use the bathroom when we got called." Sen explained, "Perhaps he couldn't answer in time."

"Oh really?" Ban asked, though he didn't sound like he really wanted to know.

"Don't... even... dare!" Umeko suddenly exclaimed.

"You folks really like to shout, don't you." Wells said as he entered the room too, using his usual dry tone.

"You're here too. Good." Doggy remarked.

"So what's the news?" Wells asked.

Hoji smiled at that: "I'd like to take a minute to point out we've managed something in one day which you haven't in..."

"Actually..." Doggy interrupted Hoji, "... it's more of a lead. We don't know who it is yet, but we're close to finding out."

Wells shrugged: "Let's hear it."


	5. Chapter 5

"With the information Wells provided me, I asked Swan if she could look for some things we've overlooked." Doggy explained to the whole team.

"We know." Sen remarked, "She told me just before I left for my date."

"She found something?" Umeko asked.

"She may have." Doggy answered, "As she was going through all of the files, she noticed somebody was hacking into the computers."

"What?" everyone shouted in surprise, but nobody seemed to notice Wells didn't react that way.

"Are you saying somebody's working from outside?" Ban asked.

"Of course." Sen understood, "If somebody does that from outside the building, while the mole is doing his work here, it would draw away all suspicion."

"How cowardice!" Ban exclaimed.

"Doggy." Swan entered the room, "I've found out where we were being hacked from."

"Great!" Umeko cheered.

"Now we'll finally find out who's behind all this." Tetsu shared the cheer.

"Just because we find this guy, doesn't mean we'll find him." Hoji reminded him.

"It's still one step closer." Sen remarked.

"I already got the data transferred to everyone's License." Swan informed everyone.

"Very well. Then you all know where to go." Doggy said, as he got up to tell everyone, "Move out."

"Roger!" only six of them said, as Wells remained quiet.

Nevertheless, all seven of them moved out.

Once they were gone, Doggy asked Swan: "Did Wells look unusually quiet to you?"

"Not to worry." Swan assured him, "I'm sure he's just a little impressed of me helping him. I wonder how he's managed to do all this by himself for so long."

"I'm not so sure." Doggy said, "There's something else, like there's something he hasn't told me."

"Excuse me!" Swan's assistant, Shelly, entered the room as well, holding something in her hands, "What do you want me to do with this?"

Swan sighed: "She still has a lot to learn."

Then she turned to Shelly, about to explain what she must do.

The seven Dekarangers arrived at the place. As Wells feared, it was Smith's house. Particularly Ban and Hoji made their way to the door really fast.

"You see, you westerner?" Ban started, "This is how you solve a case. By letting other people help you."

"Can't help yourself to rub it in, sempai?" Tetsu wondered.

Meanwhile, Jasmine noticed just how much Wells was shaking. He rubbed his eyes, which blinked some times after. Jasmine then tried to hear his thoughts, but again only got music. What is Wells hiding from her?

Meanwhile, Hoji raised his gun, after which he kicked in the door and ran inside the house. He shouted: "Freeze! Hands in the..."

He stopped mid-sentence. Everyone could see how he then dropped his gun. This particularly caused a reaction with Wells. Jasmine heard him think: "What the...? He wouldn't be...?"

Wells ran inside the house, so he could see it for himself. He saw his friend lying on the floor, motionless and insensate.

"Somebody scratched him to death?" Hoji remarked.

Wells, trying to act natural, replied: "I can see that."

"Scratched to death?" Sen questioned, as he and the rest of the team entered the room, "Could it be...?"

"You're thinking of that cat-woman we've met before?" Jasmine asked him.

"But why would she do that?" Tetsu wondered, "Why kill their own ally?"

"Someone who tries to tear down S.P.D., do you think somebody like that would think straight?" Ban questioned.

"Abrera could do it." Umeko reminded him.

"Oh." was all that Ban could bring as a reply, at which everyone fainted.

Wells, sounding unusually angry, reminded them: "This isn't the time and especially not the place to drop down like that!"

He left the house, to call the forensics. Meanwhile his temper has left something with the rest of the team.

"What's the matter with him?" Umeko asked.

"Jasmine, you know what's on his mind?" Hoji asked her.

She didn't reply immediately, for so many reasons, but she decided to say: "It seems to me that he knew this man."

"He did?" Ban sounded surprised, with a hint of happiness.

"No wonder he's so angry then." Sen deduced.

"Yeah, how would you react if a friend of yours is trying to destroy you?" Umeko agreed.

* * *

Disclaimer: the character "Shelly" is mine.


	6. Chapter 6

"Everyone!" Swan called them over their Licenses, "There's a kaijuki attacking the city! Better get to it!"

"Right now?" Umeko couldn't understand.

"Let's go!" Ban exclaimed.

Together they left the house, where they expected to see Wells, but he wasn't there anymore.

"Now where did he go?" Hoji wondered.

"Hey, look at that!" Tetsu pointed in the sky, where the Gyro-Carrier was flying, then transformed and attacked the kaijuki.

"He was outside before us." Sen thought, "He probably saw it before we did."

"Swan." Hoji called over his License's phone, "You better get the forensics to this address."

"Forensics?" Swan sounded surprised, "Alright then."

"Everyone, let's go!" Umeko shouted.

"Let's not have Wells take all the credit for beating this thing!" Ban exclaimed.

Together, they again did their pose, in which they exclaimed: "Emergency! Dekaranger!"

Once transformed and in their giant robots, Dekaranger and Dekabike Robo, they attacked the kaijuki, and thereby helped Wells, or Dekasilver. It wasn't an easy fight, as many of the Dekarangers' attacks weren't strong enough against it. That's when it was decided to form Super Dekaranger Robo. But just as it was about to attack the kaijuki, Dekasilver stopped them.

"Don't!" he yelled at them.

"What did you just say?" Dekared asked.

"This thing is about to wreck the city and you want us not to do anything?" Dekablue couldn't understand it.

"No it's not attacking." Dekayellow then said, "In fact, it's not doing anything at all."

That's when everyone else noticed it too. The kaijuki stopped moving. It's like it was about to do something, but stopped while doing so.

"Lemme scan for the cockpit." Dekapink suggested, but after a few seconds she realized, "This is weird. It's not finding it."

"Does it even have a cockpit at all?" Dekagreen wondered.

"So it's remote controlled?" Dekabreak asked.

"I don't know." Dekasilver stated, "But if we're to find out about what this thing is or where it came from, it's best to not take it apart."

"Strange." Dekablue thought out loud, "You didn't feel that way with DaiJin, back on the moon."

"This is seriouslt not the time to bring that up, Tomasu." Dekasilver said, indignant.

"He's right." Dekagreen agreed, "Let's just transport it to the base."

Super Dekaranger Robo made a giant handcuff appear, which indeed teleported the kaijuki to base.

"Er... exactly how did that thing come out of nowhere?" Dekasilver asked.

"This is not the time to ask that." Dekared replied, using a mock tone.

After some fifteen minutes, the Dekarangers were asked to appear in the storage facility, where the kaijuki was transported. Once there, one of the mechanics spoke to them: "We've found out what this thing is."

"That was quick." Hoji remarked.

"There wasn't much to find out either." the mechanic told them, "We now know without a doubt that this thing is made out of S.P.D.'s own spare parts."

"It's what?" everyone reacted surprised.

That is, everyone apart from Wells, who merely sighed: "That mole really doesn't know any limits."

"Are you complimenting that mole?" Ban wondered.

"You'd love that, wouldn't you." Wells bit back.

That's when Doggy called them: "Everyone. Return to conference room, please."

This didn't sound like the Doggy Krugger they knew. In fact, he sounded as though he hesitated, so Jasmine asked him: "Is everything alright?"

"I..." again, he sounded hesitant, "There's some good news and some bad news. You'd best come here so I can tell you."

"We're on out way." Hoji replied, as he started towards the conference room.

"Wonder what the good news is!" Umeko cheered.

"I'm not so sure I want to know the bad news." Sen sighed.

"We won't know until we get there." Tetsu told them.


	7. Chapter 7

When everyone arrived in the conference room, they were surprised to see that more people, other than Doggy, Swan or Shelly. All of them were people that all the Dekarangers knew, like Yaako, Bunta, Gyoku, Yujiro, Nao, Flora, Fauna, Shun, Marie and Lisa.

"Hello Sen, Umeko." Flora greeted them.

"Didn't think I'd see you so soon, Marie." Ban said.

"Lisa-sama. I didn't know you were coming." was Tetsu's somewhat nervous reaction.

"Wha... what are you all doing here?" Hoji immediately asked.

"We..." Doggy couldn't bring himself to say it.

"We were called here..." Lisa explained, "... because we now know who the mole is."

"You do?" Wells reacted a little surprised.

"It doesn't surprise me he'd play dumb." Yujiro remarked.

"That's great!" Umeko cheered, "Now we can rest assu..."

"Don't cheer too soon." Doggy interrupted her.

This surprised Umeko: "Why? What's wrong."

"The mole..." Doggy started, though he didn't sound too happy, "... is Wells."

"What?!" All of them, including Wells, exclaimed.

"This can't be true." Jasmin denied to herself, "You can't be..."

"But..." Tetsu, too, couldn't believe it, "But wasn't he the one who searched for it?"

Before Wells could say anything else, Ban reasoned: "Maybe that's why he always wanted to act by himself on that! This way we won't find out anything we shouldn't know!"

"And this way he'd cover his own tracks." Hoji agreed, "Not to mention..."

"Hold it!" Wells interrupted, "Why you two would think of me as the mole..."

"Mole?" Ban questioned, "A rat would be more fitti..."

"As I was saying...!" Wells interrupted him, "What makes you think..."

"Know you are him?" Swan interrupted, "This is why."

She showed her own License, while explaining: "No thanks to my assistant, I found this call has been made to our latest victim."

She pressed a button, which played the following:

"Who's this?" Smith asked over the phone.

"It's Anders." Wells answered.

Smith was surprised: "Anders?"

"You've gotta blow off what I told you to do." Wells told him.

Smith didn't understand: "Why, I was on my way to..."

"Someone's using the computers right now." Wells interrupted, "If that someone finds out I've allowed you access to S.P.D.'s computers..."

"Damn Anders, you've played a dangerous game."

"Yeah, whatever." Wells reacted, "Guess there's almost literally one thing left for me to do."

After hearing this, everyone was shocked. Wells, on the other hand appeared angry: "Wait a minute, that's it?"

"What do you mean?" Bunta started, "You say this isn't enough?"

"You asking someone to hack into our computers, now that's a serious offence." Gyoku said.

"Look, I'm not denying I did that." Wells explained.

But before he could say anything else, Ban had already started to chew him out: "Aha! So you admit you're the mole! You rat bastard!"

"I did no such thing!" Wells replied.

"No point hiding it now." Hoji started.

Wells didn't know how to help himself out of this situation. He looked at his girlfriend Jasmine, who looked at him in utter disbelief. But whether she has just read his mind to find out the truth, or was too shocked to even try, he doesn't know. While he was thinking that, the other Dekarangers started to surround him. But Doggy intervened.

"Enough!" he shouted, as he passed through all the twelve who were surrounding Wells.

Wells looked up at his supervisor: "Sir, you don't actually believe..."

"It doesn't matter what I do or do not believe." Doggy interrupted him, "Fact remains that there's evidence against you. And as long as there nothing proving your innocence..."

"Which likely doesn't exist!" Ban sounded cheerful.

"... You are to be taken in custody." Doggy continued, uninterrupted, "Now, give me your License and gun."

Wells, seeing how he was beaten, took his License out of his pocket. He didn't give it to Doggy just yet. He saw how Ban and Hoji appeared to be enjoying this, as well as how devastated his best friends looked, not to mention the angry looks, if not disappointed looks from the other ones. But as he was about to give away his License, he saw his chance.

"Fetch!" he shouted while he threw it in the air.

Everyone was too busy trying to catch it, while Wells took that to his advantage to get out of the room. By the time anyone noticed this, he was already out of the room. But Bunta was smart enough to use the intercom to alert all the agents inside the building.

"Alert! If you see Wells, stop him at all costs!" he shouted.


	8. Chapter 8

Wells ran through the corridors, where he kept meeting with many other agents. Earlier, Doggy wanted him to give him his License and gun. He hasn't got his License, but still has his gun. With it, he shot at the floor where the agents stood, thereby stopping them, so he can run away. He kept doing so, until a point came when he met with Hoji, and the rest of the team.

"Drop your gun!" he shouted, while pointing his own at Wells.

"You'd wish I would!" Wells replied, keeping his gun aimed at Hoji.

"You better do as Partner says, westerner!" Ban exclaimed, as he raised his own gun.

Wells looked at the rest of the team. They had their gun at the ready, but Sen, Umeko and Tetsu were undecided whether they should or should not point it at their friend. As for Jasmine, she didn't point at all, but instead had a look on her face that was either of grieve or disappointment. In any case, it was one that Wells has never seen before. He had to do some quick thinking, hoping that she wouldn't hear him. He looked at the ones who actually had their guns pointed at them. He then saw that Hoji has decided to wear his golden badge after all. Wells then fired his gun, hitting Hoji.

"Hoji!" everyone yelled.

"Partner!" Ban cried.

This kept them busy, Wells thought to himself. He gave Jasmine just one last look, after which he turned away and ran.

Ban, however, wouldn't let him: "Oh no you're not!"

Wells heard Ban fire his gun, but didn't feel anything. What's weirder, he didn't even hear it ricochet anywhere. He turned to look, only to see that the bullet that Ban shot is now hanging somewhere in mid-air. Even stranger was that everyone and everything around him seemed to stop moving.

"Wells." somebody called at him.

Wells turned to the direction of where it came from. He saw Marie, to whom he asked: "You're doing this?"

"I haven't got much time." she replied, "I've trained myself so I can stop time for longer, but I'm not sure it'll be enough for now."

"Why?" Wells asked her.

"Look..." she told him, "I was there when you were trained to become a Dekaranger, as was Shun. If anyone, we're the ones that know you better than anyone else. We know you can't be the mole. But shooting Hoji won't..."

"Don't worry about Tomasu." Wells interrupted her, "He'll live."

"Listen to me!" Marie tried to convince him, "Shooting him, or even trying to run,it only helps everyone convince you are the mole. If you'd just turn..."

"No!" Wells interrupted her again, "I've been through that before. I turn myself in, I allow others to find or even create evidence against me. I'm sorry, but I can't let that happen. I'll only be a sitting duck in custody."

Marie was still not convinced: "But if you'd just listen..."

"No, you listen!" Wells interrupted her again, "The mole must have known I was on to it. Or else it wouldn't have framed me. I'm sorry, but you can't expect me to just let that slide, can you?!"

Marie thought about it, then made her decision: "Everyone has left the conference room, and probably won't think of looking for you there. If you'd use the shooters, you should be able to get out."

"I think I'll just do that." Wells lowered his voice, almost as if he wanted to say 'thanks'.

He ran away as fast as he could, which was when Marie couldn't hold on much longer, so she fainted. With it, time went on it's normal course, which led Ban and the rest surprised to see Wells, seemingly disappear out of thin air.

Wells made it into one of the shooters. Since he didn't select which mecha to enter, he didn't enter any at all. It didn't take too long until he found a way out of the area, and therefor out of the building. When he was some distance away, he looked back. He never truly realized it before, but the dog's head on top of the building looked somewhat scary. Almost as if it's meant to scare the criminals away from Earth, or at least this part of it. Now that S.P.D. is hunting him down as though he was a criminal himself, he now understand why they chose to put a dog's head on the building. That's when he decided to run further away.


	9. Chapter 9

Once everyone realized Wells has left the building, there wasn't much else they could do, but to return to the conference room. Particularly Ban and Hoji weren't happy about his escape.

"How could he get out that easily?" Ban wondered, "We had him cornered. I don't understand this at all!"

"He must have taken his time to study the area carefully." Hoji figured, "Whenever we thought he was working on..."

"Oh come on!" Umeko interrupted him, "Has it ever occured to you he might not be the mole?"

"With what he's said over the phone as evidence?" Hoji questioned, "Besides, he already confessed."

"All he said was that he granted someone acces to the computers." Sen thought out loud.

"Yeah, isn't that enough?" Ban wondered.

"He also was surprised to hear the recording." Tetsu reasoned, "Like there was something missing."

"Are you saying..." Umeko asked, but couldn't finish her sentence.

"If he isn't the mole, than the real one must have done something with the recording." Sen realized.

"Or..." Hoji brought up, "... it's a lot more simple than that."

"Why is that so hard for you to understand?" Umeko yelled at him.

"And why is the truth so hard for YOU to understand?" Hoji asked her in return, "I mean look at the facts..."

As an example, Hoji mentioned the time that they were to keep a bunch of meteor rocks safe, as well as this one special child. But in the end, Wells hid them away. When asked where to find them, he said: "For the sake of the kid, or this planet, or even the entire universe, it would be best that I have my memory erased so not even I know where to find him."

Then he started about the time that Jasmine had lost her mind, almost literally, but Wells failed to show up then. Then, when he did show himself, he had the nerve to say things like: "You really should learn to say less and talk faster!"

Or was even pretentious enough to start laughing at the Hoji's defense. While he was still laughing, Wells continued, though his laugh faded away with every word he said: "No, no no no. Don't use some psychological bullshit you read in 'Psychology for dummies'! YOU created a monster!"

Once he finished talking about that, Hoji seemed to sweat, after which he appeared to have trouble breathing. As he was doing so, everyone looked shocked, but Jasmine. As it turned out, she was the one doing all this to Hoji.

"You dare to bring that up?!" Jasmine sounded normal, but not to Hoji, "Blame Bill for mistakes you made?! You're lucky he hit your golden badge earlier, but if you would talk like that again..."

Though with some trouble, Hoji replied: "I'm sorry."

That's when Jasmine let go of him. This gave Sen something to think about: "About that time however, wasn't Wells investigating that murder?"

"And wasn't he the one to bring Jasmine back?" Tetsu wondered.

"Or what about Flora?" Umeko brought up, "Who helped Sen-chan solve the case?"

"Or got you and Sen together?" Tetsu added.

"I'm sure he just tried to make himself look good, while he can do all his evil schemes behind our backs!" Ban figured.

Jasmine seemed infuriated, yet somehow didn't seem to know what to say or think. This was new for everyone.

"I've never... known her... like that." Hoji was slowly regaining hid breath.

"Must be love." Sen said, flatly.

Meanwhile, Lisa, Doggy, Gyoku and Bunta, with the assistance of Swan and Shelly, tried to figure out where Wells may have gotten to, while monitoring what the other agents were doing.

"Marie, Shun. Found out how he got out yet?" Doggy asked them.

"No, Boss." Shun replied.

"It's almost like he just vanished out of thin air." Marie remarked, doing everything she can to not show anyone she knows more.

"Yujiro, Nao. How are you doing?" Gyoku asked them, "Found anything?"

"I think so." Yujiro replied, "I think he got through the mecha's hangars."

"But to get there..." Nao started, "... well, there's only one way in which he could have gotten there in time."

"He must have known this room would be deserted." Swan realized.

"Clever." Lisa complimented, "Even for him."

"I've seen him do more than that." Bunta remarked, "Do not underestimate him."

"Think you can find him at his appartment?" Shelly suggested.

"No." Doggy figured, "He knows that's the first place we'd look for."

"So we should look for the last place he'd go to." Gyoku agreed.

"We're also talking about someone who sold us out right under our noses." Lisa said, "He may well be among us, and we wouldn't know it."

"Boss-tachi?!" Ban overheard them talking, "You're not seriously thinking that westerner would be...?"

"He may be what you call a westerner, Banban." Gyoku interrupted him, "But if we underestimate him, it may prove fatal to S.P.D."

"Wait a minute." Swan realized, "Why would Wells be interested in tearing us down?"

"Isn't that obvious?" Hoji figured, "With him not respecting any authority at all, he must have wanted to take over the world through us."


	10. Chapter 10

Suddenly, Jasmine's cell-phone rang. Given the tension there is in the room, everyone got spooked at the sound of it. Jasmine looked at the phone's screen, but she didn't seem to know the number.

"Who's calling you at this time?" Hoji asked.

"Is it Wells?" Umeko wondered.

"I don't know." Jasmine answered, "I don't know this number."

"Wait!" Bunta exclaimed, "Don't answer just yet."

He then turned to Swan: "You got something with which we can trace that call?"

"Wait." she replied, after which she pressed a button on one of the room's computers, after which a wire showed itself. This wire got connected to Jasmine's phone, after which Bunta nodded to her, so she can answer.

Questioningly, she said: "Bill?"

"Marika..." Wells replied, seemingly at loss for words.

"Stall him." Swan whispered.

Not knowing what else to say, Jasmine asked him: "What are you doing?"

"I..." Wells hesitated, "I just needed to hear you. I... I just want to know..."

"Want to know what?" Jasmine asked, "What I'd like to know is why you did what you did."

A long pause is what followed, after which Wells asked: "You... you don't really believe all this, do you?"

"I don't know what to believe anymore." Jasmine sounded sad, "Earlier, when we found that dead man, you kept thinking about... whatever you always think about if you don't want me to hear your thoughts. You've been hiding so many things, I just..."

Wells answered: "I know I have, but you do understand that I had..."

"You getting anything?" Doggy asked Swan.

"No, not yet." Swan replied, "It looks like he must be using an old payphone, which is slowing us down."

"Bill." Jasmine almost sounded like she was begging, "I just need to hear one thing from you. Were you planning on destroying us all? Was I even part of that plan?"

"What are you saying?" Wells asked in return, "You know me better than anyone else. How can you..."

Jasmine didn't let him finish his sentence, by saying: "I'm pregnant."

This caused Wells to be lost for words again: "You... you're... what?"

"Nice move." Ban whispered, "Tell him something that will confuse him."

Umeko smacked him on the back of his head: "Idiot. That's not a lie. She already told me and Sen earlier tonight."

"It... it's not?" Ban couldn't understand it, "How... when did that happen?"

"It's true." Jasmine told Wells, "I've only known it since earlier this week myself. Now knowing this, that we have a child coming, knowing that it wouldn't want to have a lying and evil father,... whatever you answer, I will believe you. Are you or are you not the mole?"

Again, there was nothing but silence. But then the moment came that he gave an answer: "No. I'm not the mole."

"He'd still be lying like that." Ban was about to shout, "THAT'S..."

Hoji could only just silence him, just in time for Jasmine, who had started to tear: "I... I believe you."

Wells sighed, but it sounded relieved: "That's all I needed to hear. I only wish that those listening in on this conversation would believe me too."

That's what got everyone to drop their jaws and open their eyes widely, in their usual fashion. Wells then said: "I bet now they're making that face again, aren't they?"

"Of course." Swan realized, "He must have known we'd try to locate him."

"That's what's slowing us down then?" Shelly asked.

"Jasmine! Hang up the phone!" Gyoku ordered her.

"It's too late." Wells said, "Hanging up won't help you now."

"What have you done, you westerner?!" Ban shouted.

"I'm sorry I had to do this through you, Marika." Wells apologized, "But I can't have you people try to stop me."

That's when Swan noticed something's happening to her computers: "What's this? The computer isn't responding to any of my commands."

"He didn't..." Tetsu started.

"He must have planted a virus in our systems." Sen realized.

"So when we thought we were stalling him..." Bunta couldn't believe it, "... he merely stalled us."

"This is unforgivable!" Ban shouted.

"Don't worry." Hoji knew how to cheer Ban up, "He'll get what's coming to him."

Meanwhile, Wells had hung up the phone he was using, which was indeed an old payphone as Swan thought. He unplugged the palmtop he used to deliver the virus, after which he typed a e-mail address.

"Never thought I'd actually have to use this." he mumbled to himself.

Ever since the F.B.I. had caught him, all his phone-numbers and e-mail addresses were monitored. However, this was one address he had that the F.B.I., or S.P.D. for that matter. With this address, he wrote a message to someone. Once the message was sent, he put his palmtop away. In the old payphone, there was a hidden compartment, where he took out a gun. The one he got from S.P.D., he knew they might somehow use it against him, so he threw that away. He puts the gun in his pocket, after which he received a reply to his message. He read the reply, which helped him to decide what to do next. Before he did anything else, he looked at his watch, where he could literally count down the seconds before midnight.

"This'll be a long night." he sighed.

**THE END**

**... or not?**


End file.
